Case Study - Research

CR&E supports processing of secondary waste from the Chemical Weapons Demilitarization Industry using research and engineering design capabilities.  Demilitarization waste streams include: chemical agents that the United States Army is required to thermally destroy and all secondary waste streams, which are either incinerated or thermally decontaminated (i.e. halogenated plastics, chemical agent contaminated charcoal, concrete, metals, waste sludge's, wall panels, piping and other miscellaneous wastes).  CR&E assisted Washington Demilitarization Company and the United States Army in development of a process to safely and effectively destroy DPE suits and halogenated plastics.  CR&E conducted testing in the laboratory and developed computer models to identify the process parameters and allowable feed rates through an existing incineration system.  The modeling and laboratory testing was followed by testing at the facility and a trial burn to demonstrate the process functioned satisfactorily. CR&E's efforts contributed to the successful destruction of the DPE suits and halogenated plastics on Johnston Island. 

Systematic processing schemes were developed for closure wastes on Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS) by CR&E.  CR&E worked closely with Washington Demilitarization Company during closure of the facility. Any materials that had been exposed to chemical agent had to be thermally decontaminated to a “5X” condition.  There was a vast amount of equipment and material that had to be thermally decontaminated.  Examples included: demilitarization machines, equipment, chunk concrete, and scabbled concrete dust, wall materials, bulk metal waste, sheetrock, etc.

The Metal Parts Furnace (MPF) was utilized for decontaminating the equipment, MDB material, and demilitarization machines.  CR&E investigated and modeled the worse case scenarios to determine the maximum throughputs, tray modifications, operating temperatures, and the time required to process the material.  CR&E also determined when processing the scabbled concrete material, the processing time was extremely high due to the poor conduction of heat.  Therefore, CR&E recommended rebar rods to be inserted into the concrete material to reduce the processing time.